An 8-year-old Louisiana girl has died after contracting a rare and deadly brain-eating amoeba infection believed to be linked to a swim in a nearby lake.
Lillian Smart died Saturday from primary amebic meningoencephalitis, her parents shared in an emotional update on the Love for Lillian Facebook page. Her death came just one day after she celebrated her eighth birthday.
Lillian had been hospitalized since August 15 after swimming at Lake Claiborne, where she is believed to have encountered Naegleria fowleri, a microscopic amoeba that can enter the body through the nose and travel to the brain, KNOE reports.
“Last night, Lillian ran from our arms to the arms of Jesus,” her parents wrote in the heartbreaking post. “The injuries to her brain were too severe for her little body to recover from.”
They said every possible effort was made to save their daughter, adding that they are “heartbroken” and struggling to understand what comes next.
“How do we put one foot in front of the other without our girl?” they wrote.
Following news of Lillian’s death, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry offered his condolences in a message posted to social media.
“Heartbroken over the news of Lillian’s passing,” Landry wrote on X. “Please join Sharon and me in prayer for the Smart family and the entire Ruston community during this time.”
Lillian Smart succumbed to amebic meningoencephalitis on Saturday – just one day after her eighth birthday
Her heartbroken parents said they are leaning on their Christian faith as they grieve
Smart was known around the community for her joy.
‘She’s just always a happy child,’ Patricia Willis, owner of The Children’s Shoppe and Peach Lemonade in Ruston, told KNOE.
‘Every time you see her, she has a smile on her face.’
As Smart’s parents now grapple with the loss of their beloved daughter, they said they will lean on their Christian faith and community.
‘Our foundation is still in Jesus,’ they noted.
‘We didn’t get to keep our girl, but we watched miracles happen on her behalf.’
They then went on to share their belief in God, saying: ‘He will give us strength when we have none left. He’s given us a community of support that I don’t think can be found anywhere else in the world.
‘Lil would have loved seeing everyone come together and she would have been right in the middle of it trying to help where she could,’ the heartbroken parents said.
They then asked for prayers.
‘We are devastated. We know you are too,’ they wrote. ‘Pray for our boys. They are going to need it so much. Pray for our friends and family; they are so sad and somehow still showing up for us. Pray for us, we won’t be able to do this without it.’
The couple concluded the post by saying they ‘are so grateful to you for loving our girl.’
She likely contracted the amoeba while swimming at Lake Clairborne (pictured)
Naegleria fowleri is commonly found in warm freshwater lakes, rivers, canals and ponds across the United States. It can cause primary amebic meningoencephalitis, a brain infection that is nearly always fatal.
There have been only 180 known cases of primary amebic meningoencephalitis in the US from 1937 through 2025.
Symptoms typically begin with a headache, fever, nausea and vomiting, before progressing to a stiff neck, seizure and a coma before death within about a week or two, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Symptoms typically appear within about five days after an infection and are fatal in 97 percent of cases.
The most recent fatality from the infection in Louisiana occurred in St Bernard Parish in 2013 when four-year-old Drake Smith Jr contracted the amoeba while playing on a slip-and-slide, the Louisiana Illuminator reports.
Officials confirmed the presence of the amoeba in the household’s water, but tests for the pathogen in the water system were negative. Still, parish officials detected low levels of chlorine and immediately treated the water system.
Two years prior, a St Bernard Parish man died from an infection after using tap water for a sinus rinse and a DeSoto Parish woman died after using tap water there for a similar treatment.
